Global Defense Initiative
The United Nations Global Defense Initiative (UNGDI), or Global Defense Initiative (GDI), is the global government of Earth. It was founded in accordance with the United Nations Global Defense Act (UNGDA), on the date of October 12, 1995, as a formalized military branch of the United Nations and evolved into a supra-national state in its own right. GDI's initial goal was to preserve world order by combating global terrorism, epitomized by its nemesis the Brotherhood of Nod, but eventually outgrew its original mandate to become a world government. Offical Fact Sheet Founding Earliest concept developed during the World War II. Founded in October 12, 1995 in accordance to the United Nations Global Defense Act. Classification 1995: International peacekeeping division of the United Nations Security Council. 2030: De-facto political and military superpower, incorporating the governmental functions of member countries. 2047: Provisional world government and military superpower. 2077: Supra-national state in alliance with the Brotherhood of Nod. Mandate 1995: To ensure the safety of the world and combat global terrorism. 2030-2062: Eradicate the global effects of Tiberium and protect humanity from harm. 2062-2077: Eradicate the spread of Tiberium with Nod's cooperation and protect the people. Base of Operations 1995: UN Security Council (location classified). 2030-2031: GDSS Philadelphia, Hammerfest, Southern Cross. 2047: GDSS Philadephia (until March), Pentagon (Washington D.C.), Reykjavik. 2062: Manchester, United Kingdom. 2077: New Adana, GST Tzadik. Political Strength 1995: Political support of the United Nations, G7 and other member countries (typically Wetern nations). 2030-2031: Forced to ncorporated political power after the dissolving of the UN and member states. GDI is left as the sole political power remaining fighting for freedom. 2031-2052: Provisonal world government in control of the remaining Blue zones on the planet. GDI has provided occasional relief to the yellow zone populations to gather political support of the populations within the Blue Zones. GDI officially controls the yellow zones on paper though mainly sees them as staging grounds. 2062: Forced to look after the yellow zone populations after all remaining Blue zones have been overrun by Tiberium. 2077: Global government in alliance with Nod. Able to appease the yellow zone populations to some extent. Economic Strength 1995: GDI has the financial backing of the G7 member nations and the UN, with multiple Tiberium harvesting operations. 2030: Multiple Tiberium operations although the Brotherhood of Nod still controls the majority of the world's Tiberium supply. 2047: Multiple Tiberium mining operations around the world provide them with needed funding. Also engaged in negotiations to secure funding from owners of Tiberium spikes and civilian silos. 2077: Combined economic strength with Nod, due to the alliance. Military Strenght GDI has the combined military strength of individual member nations around the world, though most of its assets are loaned from the United States military in the First Tiberium War. GDI doctrine centers on superior firepower and armor (more information below). GDI developed and expanded the ion cannon network as a better alternative to nulcear missiles to ensure dominance on space and developed the ORCA family of aircraft. The facion has also introduced mechanized walkers and railguns to their arsenal. Affiliations 1995: United Nations, G7, member countries. 2000s-2030: Secretly installed Nod general Hassan as the puppet leader of Nod to ensure control over the splintered faction. 2030: Mutual alliance with the Forgotten during the Second Tiberium War. Entered into a brief alliance with Nod against CABAL during the Firestorm Crisis. 2047: Sub-factions include the Steel Talons division and Zone Operations Command. Brief alliance with Nod in Sydney during the Scrin Invasion of Earth. 2062-2077: Alliance of convenience with Nod to counter Tiberium. History Orgins The Global Defense Initiative, or GDI, was originally a covert multinational special forces group operating under the designation of Operations Group Echo: Black Ops 9 before 1996. The organization was formed by the United Nations Security Council in the aftermath of the World Wars, and was designed to be a covert, specialized peace enforcing unit with a mandate to operate worldwide, outside of regular UN forces. The unit was equipped with both the military and political means to deal with anything from local ethnic unrest to regionalized armed conflicts across the globe, and was given as its primary directive the ensuring that no fledgling conflict would ever escalate into a continental or worldwide emergency again. The roots of GDI could be found back during the Great World War II, following the devastation of Greece. Reacting to Soviet brutality, the United Nations approved a unique initiative. The purpose of the proposal was to provide military funding to help increase the Allied Forces' support. More importantly, the initiative called for the creation of an agency for global defense. Over the following years, as O. G. E.:B. O.9 repeatedly became deployed throughout the world, rumours about their existence began to slowly seep into the mainstream public consciousness. Eventually, the overseeing Security Council came to the decision that transparency and limited disclosure were the best response to the international media speculations on the nature and purpose of this secret unit. The final proverbial straw for this would come when an operation in which the attempted assassination of Saddam Hussein, in a covert effort to prevent the outbreak of the Persian Gulf War, failed miserably and resulted in the death of a large number of agents. This incident, coupled with the rapid global spread of a mysterious and toxic extraterrestrial substance known as Tiberium, as well as the ever increasing influence of the globalized Brotherhood of Nod society, prompted the Security Council to begin to greatly expand and revise the mandate as well as the purpose of O. G. E.:B. O.9. The organization was restructured and was brought out of the shadows in order to make it capable of tackling the threats of the modern ages effectively as well as directly. In accordance with the United Nations Global Defense Act (UNGDA), the UNGDI or fully the United Nations Global Defense Initiative was founded at the date of October 12, 1995. The UN proposal stated the following: "The Global Defense Initiative was founded to enforce the United Nations Global Defense Act and uphold the ideals as outlined in the United Nations Charter." Their first supreme commander became the American Brigadier General Mark Jamison Sheppard, United Nations Military Command. The First Tiberium War During the First Tiberium War GDI fought Nod forces on a multitude of fronts. Eventually, Nod propaganda efforts painted GDI as being responsible for atrocities such as the slaughter of the entire population of Bialystok, through a series of false news broadcastss recorded by Greg Burdette, which forced GDI to pull back from many territories which were then quickly taken over by Nod supporters. This culminated in the UN becoming forced to discontinue its public funding of GDI due to the fear of public backlash. Nod began assaulting GDI strongholds everywhere, believing that the organization had been severely weakened by these manipulative efforts. As it turned out, the UN had faked their financial withdrawal in an attempt to outwit Nod's leader Kane, a brilliant and charismatic man. The plan was successful, and Nod forces were greatly surprised to find the bases they were attacking were heavily fortified. Most attacks were complete victories for GDI. Two more years of fighting continued, however, until GDI operatives finally located Nod's main global headquarters, the so-called "Temple of Nod", just outside of Sarajevo. A three day battle began between GDI and Nod's most elite troops. GDI could not break through the Black Hand and had to use their most advanced weapon - the orbital Ion Cannon - was activated. The Temple was destroyed, Kane was pronounced dead, and Nod was crippled, effectively ending the First Tiberium War. The Second Tiberium War With the destruction of the Brotherhood's Sarajevo Temple a period of peace dawned, allowing time for GDI to renew its efforts into researching Tiberium and to study the Brotherhood of Nod's enigmatic and radically advanced Tiberium-based technology. However, GDI forces never recovered Kane's body which was considered by many to be the biggest oversight of the entire war. During these years tabloid headlines and rumors of the continued underground existence of the Brotherhood were commonplace, prompting GDI to conduct investigations into these sightings before eventually sealing each case with few questions answered. The world remained largely at peace until September 2, 2030, when GDI bases around the world found themselves under heavy fire from Nod units. Aboard the "Philadelphia", GDI's top brass could make little sense of it; the Brotherhood as an organized and globalized militant force was supposed to have been almost eliminated and left divided into small and harmless splinter groups after Kane's death. And then the unthinkable happened. GDIs communication equipment was hacked, and in a broadcast to the "Philadelphia", Kane revealed himself to be alive, thereby declaring his return to the global political and military scene. Alarmed with this development, general James Solomon assigned field commander Michael McNeil the task of leading the efforts of countering the Nod assaults and taking the battle to them, thus initiating the Second Tiberium War. During the course of the war GDI became affiliated with the Tiberium-mutated Forgotten in their battles against Nod. GDI took out Nod's Divination project facility as they rescued the Forgotten leader Tratos and, with their help, destroyed Nod's chemical missile plant and Banshee prototype facility. GDI also had to reinforce their bases after Nod overran Hammerfest base in Norway, which prompted GDI to retrieve sonic disruption crystals from the Nod forces. The final battle this time took place in Cairo, with GDI forces striking once again at the heart of Nod, Kane's pyramid and rebuilt Temple. McNeil and Kane went one-on-one and in the end Kane was impaled with a steel beam. GDI subsequently secured the mysterious Tacitus device, which could potentially provide the organization with the means to end the Tiberium infestation on the planet. The Aftermath Shortly after Kane's second "death," it was revealed that the vaccine which The Forgotten leader Tratos had developed and had administered to his kin Umagon proved to be ineffective in curing, or even halting, Tiberium mutations within a human being, instead grossly accelerating mutations. Time began running out quickly as the Tiberium infestation increasingly continued to threaten the future and the very survival of humanity on Earth. GDI thus began to focus the majority of its resources and efforts into unlocking the secrets of the Tacitus while defending themselves against the remainder of the Brotherhood. Tratos, however, was assassinated by forces led by a Nod commander. This left GDI with no alternative other than to attempt to capture the Brotherhood's artificial intelligence unit named CABAL, which was rumored to be able to decode all the information contained within the Tacitus device by means similar to those of Tratos. Anton Slavik, leading that what was left of Nod's core, organized armed forces after the conclusion of the Second Tiberium War, was also working on reactivating CABAL in order to regain their logistical and tactical advantages, and more importantly to prevent the Brotherhood of Nod from fracturing into splinter groups again as it had done so after the conclusion of the First Tiberium War. When GDI recovered the final piece of the Tacitus, however, CABAL suddenly turned on both GDI and Nod in a move that would reveal itself to be part of an independent and premeditated plan of the AI itself. CABAL's increasing threat eventually led to an uneasy alliance between GDI and Nod, with both armies destroying two fronts of CABAL's cyborg production and resource gathering facilities. Their missions were a success, with GDI and Nod mounting a final assault on the renegade artificial intelligence's system core. Upon CABAL's termination, GDI apparently managed to develop a 'cure' for the Tiberium infestation on Earth based on the information they recovered from the Tacitus device, but whether or not they fully succeeded in utilizing this data is unknown. It was later revealed in the Third Tiberium War that Sonic Disrupters could break down Tiberium, and that humans should be prepared for a foreshadowed Scrin invasion. Interbellum Between the Firestorm Crisis and the Third Tiberium War GDI closed many of its bases, focusing on the elimination of the CABAL's remnants and the eradication of Tiberium. During this time GDI didn't see Nod as a threat, continuing it's activities and organization with secrecy, except for the Rio Insurrection and the destruction of Nod's stealth research lab under GDI command in Australia. Along with placing emphasis on ecological recovery and securing the Blue Zones, GDI decided to close several of its military bases, as Nod seemed to be too fractured to provide any resistance to GDI forces. By 2043, they had closed down over 60% of their military bases worldwide. The closure of these bases freed much-needed resources for the newly prioritized task of ecological clean-up, with the flagship project of New Eden carried out by its public works division, Idris Corporation. Before the onset of the Third Tiberium War, GDI controlled all of the uncontaminated Blue Zones and many of the contaminated, but habitable, Yellow Zones across the planet. With the Blue Zones consisting of a mere 20% of the Earth's surface, the majority of the world's population lived in Yellow Zones, in which the Brotherhood was still able to operate and maintained major influence in some of them. Neither side controlled the Red Zones, areas where the surface had been so badly scarred by Tiberium mutation that it was unrecognizable as Earth and completely inhospitable, at least to non-mutated carbon-based life-forms. GDI had consolidated its power, becoming a de facto world government, being in charge of the Blue Zones and most of the Yellow Zones. While there technically still were member countries, the divisions were of no importance. By this time administrative authority for GDI passed from the United Nations to GDI's own Council of Directors. Ironically, GDI becoming a superstate, replacing national governments is exactly what Kane said would happen. The diversification of purpose led to GDI's military forces becoming a branch of the organization, in the form of the GDI United Peacekeepers (GDIUP). As the years of peace following the Second Tiberium War continued, GDI became somewhat complacent, controversially phasing out some of its more experimental combat technologies (perhaps most infamously the majority of its mechanized walkers, including the Titan and Mammoth Mk. II). The Third Tiberium War However, this period of peace was short lived, as Nod's breakup was a mere illusion. The Brotherhood of Nod struck quickly, infiltrating the Goddard Space Center and disabling GDI 's A-SAT (Anti-Satellite) defense systems, responsible for defending GDI's space operations from hostile attacks. Nod then launched a nuclear missile at the Philadelphia while GDI 's leadership was in council on-board, critically disrupting GDI's command structure and causing widespread chaos. Meanwhile Nod forces launched a co-ordinated strike against Blue Zones worldwide. GDI repelled Nod from the Blue Zones after several days of intense fighting, and launched a counter-attack upon what was thought to be a Nod chemical weapons facility in Egypt. It was quickly revealed that this facility was researching and developing a Liquid Tiberium Bomb. GDI crippled Nod's nuclear capabilities in Cairo before proceeding to Sarajevo and using an Ion Cannon on the Brotherhood's Temple Prime by order of acting GDI director Redmond Boyle, and against the wishes of GDI General Jack Granger. The Ion Cannon hit a liquid Tiberium deposit beneath Temple Prime, vaporizing it and causing a large chain reaction wiping out what remained of Sarajevo and the surrounding regions, while at the same time spreading deadly Tiberium fallout all over Eastern European Yellow Zones. The resulting death toll was in the millions. Just as GDI thought it had won the war, alien invaders known as the Scrin, apparently attracted by the liquid Tiberium explosion, arrived and wrought havoc upon GDI and Nod alike. GDI deep space scans picked the Scrin up even before they arrived, and in a state of panic Redmond Boyle rashly ordered the entire southern hemisphere's network of Ion Cannons to be activated and unleashed on the aliens. This only served to send 39 Drone Ships crashing into Red Zones throughout the world. Upon landing, the aliens quickly began striking at blue zones all over the globe. After repelling the invaders from several of their blue zones, GDI discovered the invaders' seemingly random attacks were just a distraction from the massive, monolithic towers that were being constructed for an unknown purpose and systematically destroyed them. Unbeknownst to GDI, Kane resurfaced once more to end an inner power struggle with one of his generals and sought to control one of the Scrin Towers in an effort to learn more about Tiberium and the alien's technology. As the war ended, only one tower survived the conflict, having been protected from attack until it was completed and became invulnerable to GDI attacks. GDI stopped the invasion and plans to keep the remaining Tower, which ended under Nod control, supposedly inactive and harmless. A number of Scrin invaders were forced to flee for the time being. It is unknown whether or not the first Scrin incursion was a full invasion or something else. Post-Third Tiberium War